


Walking on Air

by Sholio



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Jossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-13
Updated: 2011-09-13
Packaged: 2017-10-23 17:09:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/252763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I brought you here because you need to know who you are, and where you come from," her grandfather said. (Apparently I wrote this last year sometime and never posted it anywhere, so it's now been thoroughly jossed by Legend of Korra. Oh well.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walking on Air

Visitors rarely came to the hall of paintings, even in these modern times. It was deep in the restricted part of the palace, frequented only by the royal family, their trusted servants and their guests.

But footsteps echoed there today, among the hanging red drapes and the long, flickering shadows. One set of steps was measured and slow, the other quick and light, tripping alongside. The skipping steps faltered when the two of them, the old man and the child, came under the severe gaze of the larger-than-life Fire Lords glaring down from the wall.

"You said we were going somewhere fun, gran'pa," the little girl said, in a tone of betrayal.

"Interesting. I said interesting."

The little girl sighed. "You meant _educational_ , didn't you?"

"Perhaps a little." Ruffling her hair and ignoring her scowl, he asked, "Can you point out Fire Lord Sozin?"

The little girl gave her grandfather the flat look that children reserve for especially dense adults. "He's the one with the comet, duh."

"And can you tell me what he did in his lifetime?"

She squinted up at him suspiciously. "What he _really_ did, or the the version Mom and Dad tell, with all the juicy bits left out?"

Managing to stifle a smile, her grandfather said, "What he really did."

"Hmm." She bounced on her toes, her dark hair swinging. "He killed a lot of people. He led the Fire Nation on an unjust war against the other people of the world. He was basically a big scary jerk. And he was Avatar Roku's best friend until he betrayed him, which, see above regarding jerk."

This time the smile slipped through, though it was tempered with regret. "Very good. And the next of your ancestors after Sozin was whom?"

"Gran'pa!" the girl moaned, drooping. "It's a beautiful day outside and --"

"And we'll be outside shortly, and feed turtleducks in the pond, and I'm sure you and your mother will come up with brand new games to torment me," her grandfather said dryly. "But I brought you here because you need to know who you are, and where you come from. I was a poor student of history, and it ... showed, in some ways. If you want, just name off the rest of the portraits, and we can discuss their reigns while we walk outside."

"Well, next there was Fire Lord Azulon," the girl said, pointing. "And great-grandfather Fire Lord Ozai, who led the Second War of Sozin's comet. And that one's you," she added in a more cheerful tone, stepping along to the next painting. "But you're so young!"

"How do you know it's me, then?" he teased.

"It's pretty obvious from the face."

One of his hands was curled around her little one, but he raised the other, touching the skin around his eye with long fingers. "Yes, I suppose the scar does make it obvious, doesn't it?"

"No, not that." The little girl hadn't paid much attention the scar in the painting, a twin to the one on her grandfather's face. It was simply a part of him; she'd never paid any more attention than she did to the shape of his nose or chin. "That one has to be you because you're smiling."

Unlike the somber portraits that came before it, the portrait of Fire Lord Zuko bore a trace of a grin on its painted lips. The artist had been skillful; the smile dancing around the mouth was reflected in his eyes, lending a softness to the face that the other portraits lacked.

"I am?" her grandfather said thoughtfully, gazing up at the painted rendition of himself. "Well, so I am. I never really noticed that before."

"Are we _done_ yet?"

"Yes, we're done for now. You did well." As he turned his back on the portraits, Zuko added, "There is a great deal of darkness in our family, and I've never believed in hiding it. I came here with your father when he was younger than you, and I think it's just as important for you to understand this side of your heritage. Knowing your history means that you can avoid repeating it."

The little girl screwed up her snub nose. "Will I be Fire Lord someday, then, after Father?"

"Well ..." Her grandfather laughed a little. "Your situation is unique. The Fire Sages have not yet made a decision about you. It's tradition that a nation of firebenders should be led by a firebender of skill and power. Our family has always produced strong benders throughout our history, and you are no exception, but --"

"But I take after Mother rather than Father," she said.

"Well, yes. My family's blood runs strong in you, but so does the blood of your _other_ grandfather, your mother's father." He quirked a small smile, like the one in the painting. "I am also a descendant of the Avatar, so you get it from both sides. But Roku was a child of fire. Aang isn't."

The little girl skipped. She did not let go of his hand, but her small feet didn't come down, and a swirl of wind lifted the old Fire Lord's iron-gray hair.

"Father says I shouldn't do that here in the palace, because it upsets people," she said. "But you don't mind, do you, gran'pa?"

"No, I don't mind, and I know your mother doesn't either." Zuko laughed softly. "There are those who claim that airbending in these hallowed halls is sacrilege. But they're speaking out of cowardice and shame, I think -- because your presence here, like your mother's, is a reminder of our national shame, the great crime that my people committed against the Air Nomads in the distant past."

Still treading on air, the little girl rolled her eyes, bored. That was nothing but ancient history to her, and she was not yet old enough to appreciate the weight of it, or the mixed heritage of three different nations that she bore in her veins. Instead, she twirled herself in a quick loop at the end of her grandfather's arm, and came to rest lightly on his shoulder. "Imagine living in a world without airbenders," she said, planting a kiss on his scarred ear and throwing an arm around his neck, while a sourceless breeze ruffled the paintings and fluttered their hair. "How strange."

"Hard to imagine, indeed, and I wouldn't want to," Zuko agreed, and leaned his head against her tiny one.

**Author's Note:**

> The implied pairings in this story could be read in any number of ways. My intent in writing it was that one of Katara and Aang's kids had married one of Zuko and Mai's kids, thus having the politically uncomfortable result that the biological heir to the Fire Nation throne was an airbender. But you could infer pretty much any pairing combination of Zuko, Katara, Aang and Mai, et al, that works for you ...


End file.
